Law Commons^™

Human Rights Research In Periodicals: A Bibliographic Note, Howard A. Hood

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Research on implementation of the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord must include examination of the periodical literature. Articles on this topic are not restricted to specific journals, however, but are scattered throughout the gamut of human rights and general interest publications--from scholarly reviews and esoteric newsletters to the most popular magazines and newspapers. Research on the Accord thus encounters difficulties common to the investigation of the broad topic of human rights. Many of the relevant periodicals are obscure, unindexed, hard to locate, and ephemeral. Because of the global character of human rights concerns, journals and newsletters dealing with them …

Extradition Between France And The United States: An Exercise In Comparative And International Law, Christopher L. Blakesley

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This study is a comparative analysis of the international law of extradition as applied through the general extradition law of the United States and France. It will compare each country's approach to and attitude toward the phenomenon of extradition in a systematic analysis of the United States--French Treaty of Extradition.

Extradition is an extremely technical process that requires precision and cooperation between two sovereign systems, often different in fundamental legal theory and procedure. An extradition treaty represents an attempt by diplomatic and legal means to establish this process so that the two sovereign states can cooperate in rendering fugitive criminals …

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Of 1978, Kim L. Kelley

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1978 Congress enacted and President Carter signed into law the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 [FISA]. The Act established the exclusive means by which foreign intelligence surveillance within the United States could be conducted. It was a completion of the statutory schemata governing domestic electronic eavesdropping created via Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968 [hereinafter Title III]. Congress enacted the FISA to clarify and delineate the proper interface between the dictates of the fourth amendment and foreign intelligence eavesdropping within the country. It was a legislative response to a void in this area of …

The Approach Of The Helsinki Declaration To Human Rights, Antonio Cassese

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of this paper is to outline briefly the basic attitude toward human rights evidenced in the Helsinki Declaration. By way of introduction, I shall describe summarily how perceptions of human rights have evolved in the United Nations since the adoption of the Charter in 1945. It is in this context that the novelty of the Helsinki exercise can be viewed and assessed.

There are many ways of analyzing and appraising United Nations action in the field of human rights over the years. This complex phenomenon can be divided into various stages, according to prevailing political philosophy. Three phases …

Charter 77 In Czechoslovakia And The International Protection Of Human Rights, Roger Errera

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Charter 77 was published in Prague in early January, 1977. At that time the document contained 240 signatures, a number which increased by 1977 to over 600. This Charter marked the beginning of a new period in the political history of Czechoslovakia, a period of public affirmation of fundamental liberties. It is useful to recall briefly reactions to the publication of this document in the East and the West, and to analyze its profound significance. It is also important to examine the major events that have taken place since 1977 and the inspiration which Charter 77 derived from the United …

Recognition Of Rhodesia And Traditional International Law: Some Conceptual Problems, Isaak L. Dore

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The traditional theories of recognition do not properly maintain the essential distinction between state and government. The only proper way to maintain this distinction is by laying down verifiable criteria for statehood, and treating the recognition of governments as purely discretionary. A state must have come into existence before the question of recognition of a particular government can arise. International personality is a consequence of statehood, not of recognition; if a state can objectively come into existence, so can international personality, and the grant or withdrawal of recognition cannot affect that personality.

The degree of recognition conferred by the United …

The Right Of The Individual To Know And Act Upon His Rights And Duties: Monitoring Groups And The Helsinki Final Act, Virginia A. Leary Professor Of Law,

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The provisions of the Helsinki Final Act relating to human rights stimulated a most extraordinary and probably unforeseen development the creation of ad hoc private citizen monitoring groups in signatory countries. No other international instrument on human rights has had a similar effect. The activities of these monitoring groups cannot be over emphasized. The phrase in Principle VII of the Final Act that the signatory states confirm the right of the individual to know and act upon his rights and duties constituted international recognition of the legitimacy of participation by private individuals in the monitoring of their own country's conformity …

The Place Of Helsinki On The Long Road To Human Rights, Vojin Dimitrijevic

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The ten principles enumerated in the Helsinki Final Act mark the beginning of a process that could improve relations among the signatory States. Such rapprochement would create a more favorable climate for fuller realization of human rights or values by every person living in their territories. In the other direction, Principles VI and VIII try to define the societal preconditions for amelioration of interstate relations. The term "progress" implies gradual development to be assessed at certain intervals. The assessment can hardly be unanimous; thus, the fact that government representatives in Belgrade parted without substantive agreement was not in itself a …

Human Rights And The Belgrade Meeting, Arthur J. Goldberg

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In September of 1977, President Carter asked me to take on responsibility for what is familiarly called CSCE--the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Like most Americans, I had previously thought of the CSCE in terms of the Helsinki Summit of 1975 when President Ford signed the document called the Final Act, a lengthy text, not a treaty, but an expression at the highest political level of the commitment of the 35 states of Europe and North America to respect certain principles of interstate behavior, to respect human rights, to build mutual confidence in the military sphere, and to …

The Csce Follow-Up Mechanism From Belgrade To Madrid, Dante B. Fascell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The on-going nature of the Final Act has given the endeavor initiated at Helsinki the characteristics of an active process, one intended to grow and intensify as its commitments are fulfilled, and, in turn, expanded by the participating states. It is this sense of an on-going process which makes the Final Act unique among international documents. Unlike many treaties or other legally binding documents, the Final Act, which is non-binding, provided for a mechanism which allows periodic review of implementation progress in a series of multilateral forums. This review mechanism, in many respects, makes the issue of compliance, if not …

United States Compliance With The Helsinki Final Act: The Treatment Of Aliens, David Carliner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A casualty, sorely if not fatally wounded, of the Soviet armed intervention in Afghanistan is the once widely-touted Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe concluded in Helsinki on August 1, 1975. The Conference was originally proposed by the Soviet Union in the 1950's in order to promote its perceived security interest in Europe and to legitimize its territorial boundaries in Eastern Europe. Though initially opposed to the idea, the United States finally supported it in 1972 as a means of promoting the "security that would come from an expansion of cooperation between East and West …

Preface, Journal Editor

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This symposium commemorates the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The historic document was concluded in Helsinki on August 1, 1975, by the highest representatives of thirty-two European countries, the Soviet Union, Canada, and the United States. Our goal is to provide a forum for evaluation of the Helsinki process prior to the Madrid review meeting in October. To permit a comprehensive treatment of this important topic, this symposium combines the spring and summer issues(Nos. 2 & 3) of volume 13.The Final Act contains a number of provisions …

Book Reviews, Robert Belton, Dr. Nasrollah S. Fatemi, Ann L. Hollick

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Book Reviews ================

Equal Employment Policy for Women: Strategies for Implementation in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe

Ronnie Steinberg Ratner, ed.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press. Pp. xxii, 520

Reviewed by Robert Belton

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The Host State of Transnational Corporations

Juha Kuusi

England: Saxon House. 1978. Pp. 117. $25.25

Reviewed by Dr. Nasrollah S. Fatemi

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The Enclosure of Ocean Resources: Economics and the Law of the Sea

Ross D. Eckert

Stanford: Hoover Institution. 1979.Pp. xvi, 390. $16.95

Reviewed by Ann L. Hollick

Execution Without Trial: Police Homicide And The Constitution, Lawrence W. Sherman

Vanderbilt Law Review

This analysis of police homicide and the Constitution leads to the conclusion that the present state laws are unconstitutional, not just in the common-law states, but in the Model Penal Code and"forcible felony" states as well.' The present laws of every state in the union deny police homicide victims fifth and fourteenth amendment rights to due process, allow the punishment of death to be imposed in a cruel and unusual fashion, and appear to deny equal protection to blacks. The only constitutional alternative apparent is to remove police homicide from the realm of punishment and confine justification for it to …

There Is A Fountain: The Autobiography Of A Civil Rights Lawyer / Legal Regulation Of The Competitive Process, Leonard B. Boudin, Kenneth B. Germain

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is a Fountain: The Autobiography of a Civil Rights Lawyer Reviewed by Leonard B. Boudin --

This book is unlike other good legal autobiographies, such as those of D.N. Pritt,' Clarence Darrow, and more recently Charles Morgan," for Lynn throughout his life was very poor, a radical and,most importantly, Black. Those portions of his autobiography that recount his political life in college and in later years make exciting and important reading. Lynn was the only member of the Young Communist League at Syracuse University in the early 1930s, and was a member of the American Communist Party in his …

The Fiduciary Responsibilities Of A Surviving Partner Acting As Executor Of The Deceased Partner's Estate, Sandra L. Randleman

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note examines the nature of the fiduciary duty in the situation in which an executor/surviving partner must decide whether to consent to a continuation of the partnership business after dissolution and in the situation in which the surviving partner has an option to purchase the deceased partner's interest in the partnership under the terms of a partnership agreement. After separately considering the nature of the fiduciary duties of an executor and a surviving partner, the Note discusses the degree to which the fiduciary loyalty that an executor/surviving partner owes the deceased partner's estate governs his decision on whether to …

Usury Legislation - Its Effects On The Economy And A Proposal For Reform, Mark B. Riley

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note examines both the original and current purposes of general usury ceilings and evaluates the success of the ceilings in achieving these purposes. In addition, the Note considers the impact of the present form of usury legislation on the economy of those states that have such ceilings and proposes a model usury statute that attempts to accomplish the social policy objectives of the current legislation while also minimizing detrimental and unintentional effects on the economy...

This Note suggests that the proposal outlined above would solve the majority of the problems created by the present statutory form. The proposal recognizes …

Relative Value Guides And The Sherman Antitrust Act, David R. Simonsen, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The skyrocketing costs of health care services for the American people constitute a crisis of national importance.' The seriousness of this crisis is reflected in the attention that antitrust enforcement agencies of the federal government are giving to the health care industry. The agencies are responding, at least in part, to the common perception that these skyrocketing costs result as much from the restrictive trade practices of the health care industry as from the growing use of sophisticated technology and inflation. Competition is viewed as an antidote to increasing prices and antitrust laws as the vehicle by which federal agencies …

Recent Publications, Paul Heng-Chao Chen, Paul Hoffman, Gilbert Sharpe, Glenn Sawyer, Leon Friedman, Catharine A. Mackinnon, Edward Dumbauld

Vanderbilt Law Review

Chinese Legal Tradition Under the Mongols: The Code of 1291 as Reconstructed. By Paul Heng-chao Ch'en

The author's analysis of the "New Code" leads him to two conclusions: that the Yuan penal system was more lenient than its predecessors in imposing lesser punishments for minor offenses, and that the Mongol-Chinese partnership of the Yuan dynasty developed one of the most impressive and mature judicial systems that imperial China ever had for the administration of justice. He therefore argues that Chinese law in the time of Marco Polo was much less barbaric than has traditionally been thought.

Courthouse. By Paul Hoffman. …

The Unconstitutional Detention Of Mexican And Canadian Prisoners By The United States Government, Jordan J. Paust

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A recent article by Professor Bassiouni addresses the procedures for the transfer of prisoners under agreements with Mexico and Canada and certain "substantive constitutional issues" in a most interesting way. Nevertheless an interest in addressing constitutional problems from the most thorough of approaches possible compels further comment on federal powers and constitutional rights. Professor Bassiouni's efforts are noteworthy but his stated conclusion that "[t]he scheme for the transfer of offenders is a laudable step which should be supported by the bench and bar should not be unquestioningly accepted. The transfer agreements represent a retreat from the constitutional protection of fundamental …

Commercial Hardship And The Discharge Of Contractual Obligations Under American And British Law, John J. Gorman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

There are several doctrines under which contractual obligations have been judicially discharged. This Note will examine the United States doctrine of commercial impracticability or commercial impossibility and the English doctrine of frustration of contract or frustration of the commercial objective. The focus of this Note therefore is on those situations in which discharge from contractual obligations is sought because of supervening economic hardship. Part II provides a brief historical account of the development of the English common law doctrine of impossibility. Part III traces the development of the United States concept of commercial impossibility and commercial impracticability from the early …

The International Legal Significance Of The Human Rights Provisions Of The Helsinki Final Act, Alexandre C. Kiss, Mary F. Dominick

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It may be submitted that the Helsinki Final Act is not a treaty, nor is it similar to resolutions of international organizations. In light of the language used in the text and the signatories' public expressions of intent, the human rights provisions must be deemed to have the same legal nature as the other provisions. The document as a whole falls within a special category of international legal instruments not anticipated by traditional definitions of the sources of international law--that is, non-binding, but directive texts which produce limited legal effects. Its foundation is agreement on a common objective: detente. Its …

The Present Status Of Compensation By Foreign States For The Taking Of Alien-Owned Property, Mark K. Neville, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Perhaps no other exercise of the prerogatives of national sovereignty during the past two decades has proven so divisive to the community of nations or created quite as much uncertainty in international commerce as the taking of an alien investor's property by host States. Certainly these takings have contributed mightily to the intensity of the confrontation between the Third World and the developed nations. As a result of these confrontations the line has been clearly drawn between the industrialized nations and those developing countries of the Third World that subscribe to the precepts of the New International Economic Order, an …

East European Perceptions Of The Helsinki Final Act And The Role Of Citizen Initiatives, Vratislav Pechota

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Human rights are articulable expressions of legal ideas that can be readily identified. The developments of the last thirty-five years have created a duality of sources from which fundamental rights of the individual derive. There are, on the one hand, national human rights. They derive from the constitution and the laws of each nation, from its traditions, values and other elements that make up what may be appropriately called the "national human rights culture." They are expressive of the specific needs of each society and indicate the purposes for which governments are created. They necessarily differ from one country to …

Conference On Security And Cooperation In Europe: Final Act, Helsinki, 1975, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which opened at Helsinki on 3 July 1973 and continued at Geneva from 18 September 1973 to 21 July 1975, was concluded at Helsinki on August 1975 by the High Representatives of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, the Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Yugoslavia.

During the …

The Soviet Human Rights Doctrine In The Crossfire Between Dissidents At Home And Critics Abroad, F.J.M. Feldbruggge

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Political and foreign relations aspects, rather than justiciability and legal instrumentalities, have always been preponderant in So- viet human rights doctrine. It is widely admitted now, at least outside the Soviet Union, that the main purpose for the much- publicized inclusion of an extensive catalogue of basic rights in the 1936 Constitution of the USSR can only have been the crea- tion of a favorable impression upon the Western democracies.' One has to remember that this happened not only at a time when the victims of Stalinist terror were numbered in millions (making the constitutional pronouncements a lugubrious farce) but …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Case Digest ================

1. Admiralty

Provisions of Carriage of Goods by Sea Act Incorporated by Reference in Bill of Lading are to be Given Effect Consistent with other Bill of Lading and Tariff Provisions

Voyage Charter Extended to Cover Contract Setting Termination Date in Order to Avoid "Secret" Maritime Liens

2. International Patent Regulation

In a Patentee's Dealing with Licensees, the Policies Underlying the Patent System do not Override those of the Sherman Act

3. Jurisdiction and Procedure

Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act § 1611 operates when Treaty Waiver does not specifically include a Certain Type of Property

Transactions involving Options …

Recent Decisions, Scott R. Valby, Jeffrey P. Marston, Thomas W. Baker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Aliens--An Immigration Regulation that Distinguishes Among Aliens by National Origin Must Have a Rational Basis to Satisfy the Equal Protection Guarantee of the Fifth Amendment

Scott R. Valby

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Antitrust--Extraterritorial Application of the Sherman Act Should Not be Curtailed at the Pre-Discovery Stage if Significant United States Interests are Involved and there are Factual Disputes Concerning the Applicability of the Act of State Doctrine

Jeffrey Paul Marston

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Transportation--Interstate Commerce Act--ICC has Plenary and Exclusive Jurisdiction over Joint through Routes between Outlying Possessions or Territories and the United States

Thomas William Baker

Books Received, C. A. P.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Books Received ================

Documents on Prisoners of War Edited by Howard S. Levie Newport, Rhode Island: Naval War College Press, 1979. Pp. 841.

Chinese Family Law and Social Change in Historical and Comparative Perspective Edited by David C. Buxbaum Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1978. Pp. 553. Bibliography and Chinese-English Glossary

The Definition of Law By Herman Kantorowicz Edited by A. H. Campbell New York: Octagon Books, 1980. Pp. 89. $13.50

The Legal Regime of Islands in International Law By Derek W. Bowett Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc.,1978. Pp. 337. Diagrams and Maps.

International Norms and National …

Recent Developments, Benjamin W. Pardue

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1967 the British government devalued the pound as against the dollar. The year 1969 witnessed the floating of the German mark. More recently the dollar has fluctuated widely in international money markets. Under presently accepted accounting principles United States multinational corporations are required to convert their foreign assets and liabilities into dollars at the year's end rate of exchange. When a foreign currency is devalued against the dollar, the value of that foreign subsidiary's assets also declines. In a corporation's consolidated financial statement such a drop in value may distract investors from the corporation's operating successes, with a corresponding …